GINGER ESSENTIAL OIL
Family: Zingiberaceae
Common Name: Ginger
Botanical Name: Zingiber officinale
Extraction method: Steam distillation from the unpeeled, dried, ground rhizome or CO2 extraction.
Odour: Distilled oil smells most like the dried ground ginger spice. CO2 resembles the fresh grated rhizome - sharp, warm and very spicy.
General Description:
Ginger is a tropical perennial herb, growing up to 60 - 120 centimetres, with reed-like stems and yellow flowers with purple markings. The stem grows directly from the thick tuberous rhizome, from which both the famous spice and essential oil are produced. Native to southeast Asia, the plant grows in tropical countries throughout the world.
Extraction method: Steam distillation from the unpeeled, dried, ground rhizome or CO2 extraction.
Odour: Distilled oil smells most like the dried ground ginger spice. CO2 resembles the fresh grated rhizome - sharp, warm and very spicy.
General Description:
Ginger is a tropical perennial herb, growing up to 60 - 120 centimetres, with reed-like stems and yellow flowers with purple markings. The stem grows directly from the thick tuberous rhizome, from which both the famous spice and essential oil are produced. Native to southeast Asia, the plant grows in tropical countries throughout the world.
History/Folk lore:
Ginger has been used for centuries in Asia for both culinary and medicinal purposes. In traditional Chinese medicine, the fresh root, known as sheng jiang, is used for colds and chills, both to promote sweating and expel mucous.
Ginger was one of the first products to travel the "spice route" from Asia to Europe, where both the Greeks and Romans made extensive use of it. The Greek physician Dioscorides (AD 77), recommended it as a digestive stimulant — a property still recognised today through the widespread use of ginger for nausea and travel sickness.
Main Uses In Massage:
An excellent essential oil to use with any kind of work — for painful muscles and joints because of its anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. Has been widely used traditionally and investigated clinically for rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions of the musculoskeletal system. It has a deep penetrating, comforting warmth that soothes pain.
The deep warmth of ginger is also useful for clients with chronically cold hands and feet as result of poor circulation, or for clients who feel as if they are on the edge of catching a viral infection such as the 'flu, with the shivering and aching that accompany it. Ginger foot baths are effective in both these situations.
Therapeutic Properties or Actions:
Analgesic, antiseptic, carminative, expectorant, febrifuge, laxative, rubefacient, stimulant, stomachic, sudorific, tonic.
Body Systems & Therapeutic Uses:
Musculo-skeletal systems - May be used in a compress or massage for rheumatism, arthritis and muscular pain of a cold contracting type.
Digestive system - Stimulates and warms the digestive system — indicated for poor digestion, abdominal distension and flatulence.
Circulatory system - Recommended for poor circulation, cold hands and feet.
Respiratory system - Recommended for catarrhal conditions, coughs, sinusitis and sore throats. Warming and stimulating effect on the lungs — ideally suited for chronic bronchitis. Energetics - Tonifies yang energy of the kidneys making it useful for relieving lower back pain associated with muscular fatigue.
Precautions:
Safe at low dilution.
Can be skin irritant if not properly diluted.
Possible skin irritant on sensitive skin.
< Shop for ginger essential oil >
Therapeutic Properties or Actions:
Analgesic, antiseptic, carminative, expectorant, febrifuge, laxative, rubefacient, stimulant, stomachic, sudorific, tonic.
Body Systems & Therapeutic Uses:
Musculo-skeletal systems - May be used in a compress or massage for rheumatism, arthritis and muscular pain of a cold contracting type.
Digestive system - Stimulates and warms the digestive system — indicated for poor digestion, abdominal distension and flatulence.
Circulatory system - Recommended for poor circulation, cold hands and feet.
Respiratory system - Recommended for catarrhal conditions, coughs, sinusitis and sore throats. Warming and stimulating effect on the lungs — ideally suited for chronic bronchitis. Energetics - Tonifies yang energy of the kidneys making it useful for relieving lower back pain associated with muscular fatigue.
Precautions:
Safe at low dilution.
Can be skin irritant if not properly diluted.
Possible skin irritant on sensitive skin.
< Shop for ginger essential oil >
I will be posting more information about other essential oils on this blog so keep checking back.
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< Related articles - clary sage , eucalyptus , frankincense & geranium >
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